FINALLY!
Corynna's Daisy sweater is finished...
...except for the hole.
I've decided to take Handknitter Sarah up on her offer to fix it for me.
So in the mail it goes today.
My knitter's pride is a bit bruised over the fact that I wasn't able to fix this myself.
I tried.
...and ended up making the hole bigger.
Usually that would make me all the more determined to fix the problem myself - but Corynna should be wearing this now before the weather changes and while it still fits her.
The lesson is about letting go.
And moving on...
...to other stuff.
Like Kersti for Kristi.
This is the beginning of the first poncho panel.
I had started the poncho using another pattern as a guide but then Bonne Marie finished her Lacy Poncho and offered it for sale. I really like the two-rectangle poncho construction better than the start-at-a-point-and-increase-each-side poncho construction. So I'm using Bonne Marie's pattern as a guide and improvising.
I also cast on the Alien Illusion scarf from Stitch and Bitch:
Progress as of Sunday afternoon.
Post picture, I took AI with me to a Jazz Concert our Neighborhood Association sponsored from 4 to 8pm and made more progress.
The casting on of AI marks the official beginning of my holiday knitting. AI will be gifted to my Sci-Fi obsessed brother-in-law. The one who sent us a Christmas card two years ago that had the Star Trek-Next Generation crew on the front with his picture inserted as one of the crew. He's a total freak and that's why I love him!
It's been a while...
...since I posted a picture of our gurls
so I'll leave you with this shot of Dot and Sade as they vie for my attention.
(That's Dot's favorite squeaky toy. She's so darn cute when she runs around the house with it in her mouth - looks like she's carrying around a big red bow.)
Hope the start to your week is a good one!
Bye!

My Iowa Retreat(In Pictures)
Going to Carol's is really like going on retreat for me. She doesn't own a TV; so the only sound, the whole time I was there was either the sound of us talking and laughing and talking some more - or silence - wonderful, soothing silence.
And then there's the food...a fridge full of fresh produce from Local Harvest CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where Carol is a work share member.
I arrived in Cedar Rapids Monday morning. Monday and Tuesday were low key, catch up days. Tuesday I really hit vacation stride when I didn't get up until 12:50 PM Ohio time.
Wednesday morning we (Carol, her son Sam's girlfriend Dominique and I) headed to the farm to work and bring home the week's bounty.
Our task was to weed 3 rows of green peppers...
(Looking from this direction it seemed like the rows went on forever!)
...and pick ripe peppers as we went.
Here I am...
...smiling but hurting already.
I'm WAY out of shape.
Here's the other end of the rows, about 2 hours later...
...de-weeded and plucked of the day's ripe and ready peppers!
We then proceeded to weed a partial row of carrots, after which I drug my sorry-out-of-shape-aching-ass to the car and waited while Carol and Dominique gathered all manner of vegetables to take home. Chard, kale, carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, basil, eggplant, green beans (to name what I can remember) and of course - green peppers.
That evening we went into town where we heard Mike and Amy Finders play, we browsed Prairie Lights Bookstore and had an awesome dinner at The Red Avocado. A really nice end to a tiring but lovely day.
Thursday found Carol and I scurrying around to do all the stuff we thought we had time to do. The biggest of which was me painting a design on the little roof over her porch.
Carol bought her house at the beginning of the summer.
My "design" and the painting of it is my house-warming gift to her.
Me on the ladder painting...
...Carol painting her mailbox...
...close-up of the porch roof...
...the finished product!
Well kindda. I didn't get a second coat on everything by the time I needed to stop.
Carol finished it up the next day - after I left.
I flew home, early Friday morning.
C was very happy to see me.
This was the first time I had been the one to go away and she was the one left at home.
She really missed me, which is really nice to know after being together for a little over 4 years.
Later this week some knitting content.
' Til then~ Here's to quiet spaces, organic vegetables, good friends over long distances and the sweet love of someone at home.

The Dog Days Of Summer
Know where this saying comes from?
I didn't. So I looked it up...
My search took me to Dogs Through HistoryIn Greek mythology, Canis Major (Great Dog) and Canis Minor (Little Dog) is The Great hunter, Orion's, two hunting dogs. Canis Major is one of the most striking constellations in the heavens. Look for Sirius, 'The Dog Star', the brightest star in the heavens. Legend has it that Sirius is the diamond in Canis Major's collar. Sirius is said to mean 'scorching' or 'sparkling' because it is nearest to the sun at the height of summer. In the constellation, Canis Major is said to be crouching, ready to pounce on Lepus, The Rabbit. In olden days, people thought Sirius, the Dog Star made the days hotter. The saying 'dog days summer' comes from this belief.
We're so much smarter now, aren't we?
Even though it's technically the "dog days of summer" it's certainly not scorching here in the Ohio Valley today. A front came through last night which brought us some gor-geez-e-mo weather!
Highs around 72 today...tonight low 50's.
Ummm. Great sleeping weather.
Kersti Love
If you've knit with it you know where I'm going here.
I can't put it down!
I think I'm really going to like the Body Hugger Raglan...I was a little concerned to be making something that is called a "body hugger." This mid-aged body of mine doesn't need misplaced bumps, lumps and curves highlighted any more that they already are. But I think this might just work. I'm making the largest size so the rib pattern might actually work to my advantage here.
Surfing Amazon
I just love clicking around Amazon and seeing what new knitting books are on the horizon.
One that looks particularly interesting is...
For the Love of Knitting~
A Celebration of Knitter's Art
by Kari A. Cornell
I did some other searching around on the title...looks like it's set to be released this September.

A Productive Week
But first~
My Knitting Tarot / High Priestess T-Shirt arrived last Thursday.
I love it!
Haven't had a chance to wear it yet~ hopefully this week. Maybe I'll wear it to work Friday...it's casual day and at Antioch casual is casual.
OK. Now on to the actual knitting.
Venus...
The left front is done.
I finished the shoulder and side seams so I could see how it's going to fit.
The armhole could be a wee bit bigger, so I'm thinking about frogging the back and front to adjust the measurement. Every time I look at it or think about it it bugs me, so I need to just do it now and get it over with.
Over the weekend I cast on two new projects.
Kersti and Sally Melville's Body Hugger Raglan...
Colorway 354 which I love! Soft and girlie. I think it's going to make a beautiful Body Hugger.
...I also decided to join the Kersti Knit-Along.
I know. Strange for me.
I'm not really a Knit-Along-er.
As C told me when I first met her...don't try to figure me out - it'll drive you crazy.
(She was right.)
childHood
from the 2003 Summer Knitty...
(note: Dot's nose)
This is going to be a gift for one of C's co-workers.
I've been meaning to cast on for this for a month now. I saw the Daddy and Mommy to be over the week-end. Mommy is, well...very pregnant. Decided I'd better get started. Little Baby is due mid-October, so this should be a nice sweater/jacket for the coming cold weather.
I'm knitting it in Paton's Look At Me. Stash inventory and different weight of yarn than the pattern calls for but I'm making the appropriate adjustments. I'd originally bought the yarn to knit something for Corynna, many moons (many) ago.
Speaking of knitting for Corynna.
The plan now is for me to have her sweater done by the time she starts school - the end of August. I need to just plow through it and be done with it...problem is I don't care for it in the least. I'm ashamed of it. It's not my best knitting - at all. I want to just throw it away and knit her something beautiful in wool. But she's excited about it. She doesn't judge things the way her Gran-Ma does...
...to her it's a wonderful sweater that Gran-Ma Tresa made just for her.
I need to make that my mantra and JUST DO IT!!